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The Deep Freeze

 It seems like the whole country is going to go through a few days of really, really, really cold temperatures. We just heard today the water will be turned off here at the campground for 24 to 36 hours starting at midnight tonight because the temperatures will be below freezing. Mike will disconnect our water hose from the spigot after dinner. So that will be fun. But it could be worse, Mike called the Scamp factory this morning to get some information on routine maintenance we need to do, and they told him it was –32 degrees up there in Minnesota this morning. Yikes.

Along with the cold and possible “wintry mix” coming our way, we’ve also got crazy winds. Two nights ago the wind blew steadily all night, with gusts that rattled the camper—and woke us up repeatedly. Last night the winds died down, but they are already picking up again today, and we’re supposed to have gusts up to 50 mph tonight. So that will be crazy, too.

It’s been mostly keeping us in the camper—where it’s nice and warm because we have a hard-working little heater and only about 50 square feet to heat—but Mike did walk down to take a look at the steel gray Gulf this afternoon.


Mike's view of the cold, gray, empty beach today

We also went out for breakfast this morning, thinking if we really get ice overnight tonight we won’t be able to get out as easily. But the restaurant was apparently over frequented and under staffed; after waiting for quite awhile and not even getting menus much less any warming coffee elixir, we left and went to another place down the road, the Island Café. And about five minutes after we got there, a couple who had been sitting at the table next to ours at the first restaurant walked in and said to us, “We couldn’t get served over there either.” It was fine, though; we had a nice breakfast at the Island Café, huevos rancheros and grits (yes, we’re in Texas), and then stopped at the IGA to get water. Surprisingly, it was not full of people buying milk, bread, and toilet paper.

Yesterday, the work campers here looked like something from Gulliver’s Travels, all working together to untie and dismantle the ropes and walls and roof of the community tent because of the predicted high winds. Social events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future—no happy hour or chair yoga or bingo until winter is over at the end of the week, I guess. I was talking to a fellow in a shop down the way on Saturday (when it was still in the 70s), and he told me that there’s always two weeks of winter down here, and he’s already had to wear long pants eight days so far, thus he figures six more days and winter will be over. I hope he’s right.

Meanwhile, I’ve figured out how to warm kolaches in our iron skillet on the stove so we can have a hot breakfast of baked dough wrapped around sausage, always important for maintaining that layer of warming blubber. So we’ll stay warm, eat warm, and drink bottled water until the polar vortex heads back to Canada where it belongs.

Kolaches!


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